A story published today in the Times Leader
reports that ideas on dating within the workplace are shifting as
offices get more casual and a more relaxed generation enters the work
force.

Co-workers have always socialized, of course, but
romance is no longer against many policies.

“We went through a period in employment regulations
when everyone was advised to include in their employee (handbooks that)
dating in the workplace was prohibited,” said Suzanne Layton,
president-elect of Human Resources Management Association of Greater
Kansas City. “I’m seeing less of that today; perhaps there were less bad
situations than they expected.”

Derek Smith, 24, works at Cerner Corp., a large
health-care software company in Kansas City that employs many recent
college graduates. He said seeing co-workers pair off is common.

“What’s the most common way you meet someone? A friend
of a friend,” Smith said. “If all your friends work at Cerner, doesn’t
that feed into the cycle?”

Lindsey Henry Moss, a spokeswoman for Cerner, said the
company has no specific dating policies. However, supervisors are not
allowed to manage significant others or people they are dating, she
said, and employees are expected to remain professional.

As part of a poll commissioned by The Star, Market Data
Specialists asked 600 single people in the five-county Kansas City area
where they meet people to date. Work tied for second (with bars) as the
place where Kansas City singles find their dating partners. The No. 1
way Kansas City singles meet people is through friends, according to the
poll.

Nationally, more people are dating within the
workplace, according to a survey by Vault Inc., a career information Web
site (
www.vault.com). In a 2005 survey, 58 percent of employees said they
have had an office romance, up from 46 percent in 2003. In the survey,
59 percent also said that if they were a manager, they would do nothing
about office romances unless work quality were compromised.

Megan Lewis, 26, said that when she worked at State
Street, a financial service provider in Kansas City, many young people
dated their co-workers. She thinks it was a result of how career-driven
young singles can be.

“They’re working long hours and not meeting anybody
else,” she said.

Research from Careerbuilder.com supports her theory. In
a survey of more than 1,300 workers, Careerbuilder found that 22 percent
of people who have dated at work began dating after working on a project
together and 15 percent began dating after working late. Socialization
was a factor as well: Thirteen percent of workers said they began dating
after happy hour with co-workers.

Adam Laskey, 26, didn’t realize that helping his friend
with a new crop of Cerner trainees would lead to marriage. But it was
there he met his future wife, Leslie, 26. They became fast friends and
were soon a couple. When he began a project in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.,
she followed. They’ve been married a little more than a year.

Leslie said nothing was awkward while the Laskeys, who
both still work at Cerner in Kansas City, were getting to know each
other. It doesn’t bother Leslie that they work together because they
work in different departments. In fact, she said she likes talking about
work at home.

“It allows me to know a different side of the company,”
she said.

Is this sort of bliss possible for everyone? Who knows.
But the rise of dating in the workplace is a big part of the
20-something generation.

Abby Wilner is the author of “Quarterlife Crisis: The
Unique Challenges of Life in Your Twenties,” published in 2001. The book
was instrumental in focusing attention on the “quarterlife crisis,” the
period of self-doubt and insecurity many face in their 20s. She also
co-wrote a new book published this year, “The Quarterlifer’s Companion,”
which gives tips about how to survive the quarterlife crisis.

Young singles are working more, but they’re also
changing jobs more often. The awkwardness that previously came with
dating your co-worker isn’t there anymore, she said.

“There’s so much job-hopping now that if it does become
a sticky situation, someone can move on,” she said.

Not everyone is so
casual about dating in the workplace. Small offices are different, said
Steve Vockrodt, 23. He’s a reporter for the Dispatch Tribune in
Gladstone, Mo., and his office is small, making inter-office dating
impossible. But trying to meet someone is equally impossible because so
many girls are into dating men from their workplace, he said